


when to stop chasing shadows

by MegaWallflower



Category: Naruto
Genre: Haircuts, Hatake Kakashi Has Issues, Introspection, M/M, Mutual Pining, POV Third Person Omniscient, Self-Hatred, Unresolved Sexual Tension, living in the shadows of their dead fathers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-24
Updated: 2019-06-24
Packaged: 2020-05-19 01:19:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19346620
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MegaWallflower/pseuds/MegaWallflower
Summary: Kakashi could use a haircut.





	when to stop chasing shadows

 

"Guy."

Kakashi spoke softly, still wearing his ANBU uniform as he perched in Guy’s windowsill, his hand resting on the latch that he’d undone. Guy had locked it, but Kakashi knew how to get into Guy’s house. Even with the traps he set to keep out burglars, it wasn’t difficult.

Guy sat up with a start, still half-asleep but alert enough if he needed to fight. Eyes heavy-lidded from deep slumber, Guy squinted to make out the intruding figure. Moonlight streamed in through the window, silver glow tracing the lines of Kakashi’s silhouette as he removed his ANBU mask. 

“Rival…?” Guy asked. Kakashi was the one person in the world that Guy wouldn’t forget or mix up with anyone else, but Guy was tempted to doubt his eyes right now. Kakashi hadn’t come to him of his own accord in what felt like a long, long time.

With his shoulders hunched like that, like there was a great burden resting on them, Kakashi looked small— tiny even. He looked like he'd lost weight, and it didn’t help that it looked like he hadn't slept in days. His long, white hair hung over his shoulders, reaching down his back now. White… Was it always so white? Didn’t it used to be grey? Or at least silver?

Guy wanted to sweep a thumb under the dark smudges under his eyes. Even at rest like this, there was a slight tension in the way Kakashi carried himself, a tiny hunch of his shoulders, and Guy suddenly found himself wishing that he could stop time, make everything go away until Kakashi was as happy and unburdened and smugly confident as he was when he was a child.

Powerlessness was an old friend, and Guy had long since learned to live with it, but he had never resented it as much as he did now. “Rival? What are you—”

“Will you—” Kakashi started, then stopped suddenly, like the words were having difficulty coming out, like they were metal shards embedded in his throat. He cleared his throat and tried again, this time more impassively and coolly, and this time, as a statement instead of a question.

“I need a haircut.”

The request hung in the air for a while, but Kakashi didn’t elaborate.

Guy offered him an awkward smile. Kakashi did need a haircut. Guy felt relieved that Kakashi would come to him, even for a little thing like that.

Stifling a laugh, Guy sat up and motioned for Kakashi to come closer. “You certainly have a flair for dramatic entrances, Rival! If a haircut is all, I can lend you whatever you need!”

Kakashi frowned. Guy wasn’t getting it.

He sat down in front of Guy and reached out a gloved hand towards him. Confused, but not wanting to miss the chance to keep Kakashi close for even a second, Guy accepted the hand without a moment of hesitation.

Kakashi’s hand trembled involuntary, and that was apparently much better at getting his message across. “I need a haircut,” Kakashi repeated. _I need you to cut my hair. I can’t do it myself right now._

Kakashi doubted Guy could understand exactly what he meant. He doubted Guy ever had the kind of blood on his hands that he couldn’t wash off or the kind of regrets that made it hard to face his own reflection. He doubted Guy’s body shivered with the memory of what it had done. After all, Guy was a good person, at heart. It was why Kakashi hated coming to Guy for anything, much less for something like _this_.

But Minato was gone, and so was Kushina.

There were very few people Kakashi would trust to hold any sort of blade near his head while his arms were trapped at his sides, and the list only ever got shorter. Kakashi himself didn’t make the list. There were times he couldn’t even keep his own bloodstained hands still.

 _At the very least,_ Kakashi was saying silently. _I know you won’t kill me. I know you won’t try._

As the message dawned on Guy, the previously light atmosphere shifted back into a solemn one; a look of melancholic sorrow reflected in his eyes. With a wistful smile, he gazed up at the friend-killing, cold-hearted ANBU captain. “Kakashi…”

Guy reached for Kakashi very slowly, touched Kakashi’s cheek, cupped it softly. He ran a calloused hand over the side of Kakashi’s face; sweeping his bangs from his eyes while Guy’s other hand pressed to his knee, more or less anchoring him back to reality. Kakashi could feel his own pulse racing and his hands shaking still, but it wasn’t as bad as it had been.

Either he could get Guy to cut his hair, or he could do it himself as long as Guy held onto him like that.

“What a happy coincidence, Rival! Much more than I’d been hoping to get a good night’s sleep and start training at the crack of dawn, I’d been hoping to give someone a haircut in the middle of the night tonight! I can’t believe how lucky I am!” he teased, although the way Guy said it, it almost sounded sincere. Kakashi almost believed it was sincere. “You have the best timing, as always, my eternal rival! Any time is the best timing for you, of course! You’re always welcome in my humble abode!”

“You’re ridiculous.” Kakashi said, leaning into his palm. It was the closest he was going to get to a “Thank you.”

Guy seemed happy to accept that.

Just like Kakashi knew he would, Guy let him inside and sat him down on a seat he dragged to the middle of the room. He ran off to gather his supplies, and when he returned, he saw how distant the look in Kakashi’s eye was again, staring blankly at his long hair.

Guy cleared his throat to announce his presence, and Kakashi glanced over at him to let him know he was well aware that Guy was back. “Well, then— Welcome! Thank you for choosing the Might Salon! I’m Might Guy,” he grinned a blindingly bright smile, posing with scissors in one hand and combs in the other. “And I’ll be helping you today! What’ll be it, sir? Cutting your hair? Dying it? Maybe a treatment! We can make it straight and silky!” Guy spun around, showing off the way his short hair rippled. “Like mine!”

He was trying to be even sillier and more animated than usual. Trying to ease the tension in the air, make Kakashi smile or laugh or properly relax again.

It didn’t work. “…Just cut it,” was the only answer Kakashi gave him.

Guy didn’t miss a beat. He was made of stronger stuff than that. “Got it! Right this way, Rival!” Guy pushed the chair closer to the counter, where Guy had set out several pairs of scissors and a shaving kit. Added to that were shampoo, conditioner, and towels…

“You’re too excited for this…” Kakashi sat down his ANBU mask, fixing Guy with a stern look. “Just cut it,” Kakashi repeated.

“Of course, whatever you say, my beloved rival and valued customer!” Guy declared, and draped a blanket around Kakashi, tying it around his neck very slowly, like he was dealing with a wild animal that may lash out if frightened. And honestly, he might as well have been. “You’ll need to sit still,” he said, “Can you do that?”

“I’m not _you_ , Guy.”

Guy laughed. “I guess not! Being still and quiet and mysterious has always been a strong suit of yours, hasn’t it, rival? Alright, leave it to me! Today, I am your charismatic beautician! That’s my strong suit. After all, I cut my own hair all the time!”

Kakashi made a face like he was terrified at that revelation. “You do _that_ to yourself?” Kakashi gawked at Guy’s bowl cut. “On _purpose_?” Guy’s only response to that was rolling his eyes and getting started.

Guy was painstakingly careful as he combed through Kakashi’s hair, starting from the ends so as not to pull out any strands. “Really, how _do_ you want it cut, Kakashi?” he asked again, as though Kakashi would really have a specific preference about the way he looked. As though he was here out of some sense of vanity. As though he didn’t prefer to wear layers of masks to avoid looking at his own face and remembering there was anything behind them at all.

It certainly felt like there was nothing there, on some days. Nothing that deserved to live after everyone who Kakashi had let die. If he hid behind enough masks and enough walls, maybe “Kakashi” would cease to be. That was a comforting thought.

“Kakashi?” Guy blinked down at him with a confused expression, head tilting to one side. Maybe he could read his rival’s mind. Maybe he was saying that as long as Guy was here, Kakashi would never disappear.

Maybe Kakashi was reading too deeply into his tone. He sighed again.

“I’ll leave it up to you,” Kakashi reiterated. And because Guy wouldn’t drop it unless he was given some sort of guideline, “Just make it shorter than this –And no bowl cut.”

“Oooh! You’re leaving that much up to me? Is that really okay?” Guy tried for a mischievous grin. It only ended up looking giddy and excited.

“Lord Third said I reminded him of my father. Just cut it so I don’t hear that again.”

Guy’s grin faltered and he nodded. “I understand. Well, you’re in good hands, my handsome rival!”

When Kakashi’s hair was finally untangled, Guy moved on to the next part. Scissors in his right hand, he ran the fingers of his left through Kakashi’s fluffy hair, deciding how short he would cut it. Kakashi’s body tensed instinctively at the sharp sound of the metal sliding against metal. His shoulders rose cautiously.

Guy froze. “Are you okay, Rival?”

“Just cut.”

If Guy was put off by the terse forcefulness in Kakashi’s tone, he didn’t show it. Instead, his grin returned, brighter than ever. “Alright! Let’s start with your bangs!” he declared confidently, but with the first snip of the scissors and the first long lock of Kakashi’s hair that fell to his lap, the confidence drained from Guy’s demeanor like the color from his face.

“I… I’m sorry…” Guy offered shakily.

Kakashi didn’t want to imagine how his bangs looked right now. But his shoulders rolled back and his whole body relaxed as he burst into laughter at Guy’s reaction to his own handiwork.

“H—hey, I’m not even done yet, don’t laugh! And I told you, you have to be still Kakashi!” Guy grabbed Kakashi by the shoulders and half-heartedly tried to force him to stay still. It felt like the first time Kakashi had genuinely laughed in ages. He wasn’t sure he remembered how to stop. “Kakashi!”

“Don’t worry about it, Guy. As long as it’s not a bowl cut, just do something with it. Even if I’m bald when you’re done.” Honestly, Kakashi hadn’t been able to look at my own reflection in the mirror without feeling disgust run through him in so long –it was why he hadn’t noticed how long his hair was getting until now. Maybe if there was something to laugh at in it, he would be able to face himself in some small way.

Guy huffed indignantly. “I’m not going to make you bald, Rival! I-I know what I’m doing! –Let’s see, the right way to hold the scissors is…” Guy mumbled to himself, adjusting the angle of the scissors in his hands as carefully as he would a poisoned kunai. “…Like this! I’ll keep doing it like this, and so…”

Kakashi opened his mouth, presumably to say something sarcastic. However, his thoughts were wiped away by the observations that Guy was climbing onto his lap, leaning over him, free hand running through his hair. His body was tilted so that his scarf hung loosely around him, his legs splayed either side of Kakashi’s waist. “…Guy,” Kakashi said, his tone deceptively calm, despite the heat he felt prickling under the collar of his shirt.

Guy hummed distractedly, all his focus on fixing the bangs he’d cut too straight. “Yeah?”

“Is this the way you usually cut people’s hair?”

“I’m only used to cutting my own. Besides, it’s hard to keep leaning over you. I’ll do a better job this way!” Guy was clearly being sincere, but it was hard to take him seriously while he was _straddling_ Kakashi’s lap.

“So, you’re just going to use me as a chair…?”

“And you make an excellent chair! As expected of my talented rival!”

Guy cut off the long part in the back, and his knuckles brushed the soft skin at the nape of Kakashi’s neck. Kakashi twitched, unable to stop thinking about how close they were and how many ways Guy could kill him right then. How many ways he could kill Guy right now. They were both too close, too open, too vulnerable.

It was a shame. Those weren’t supposed to be the sorts of things running through his mind right now. Kakashi’s crush was in his lap, breathing in his ear, leaning too close, like a scene from one of Jiraiya’s novels –Kakashi was finally old enough to read them now –and Kakashi could still only think like a shinobi.

When they were younger, Kakashi would have only thought that Guy was way too warm to be on top of him and that this was annoying. If he was a little less on edge, Kakashi would have been thinking something dirty. Kakashi wondered if he was losing the part of him that made him human at all. Another way he was nothing like his father.

Guy’s hands moved quickly once he’d regained his confidence. For a while, there was only the sound of the scissors clicking as more hair fell to the floor, the smaller pieces gathering on Kakashi's shoulders. Kakashi could hear the snipping of the scissors and the relaxing feeling of his fingers tracing his scalp, blunt nails across his skin causing goosebumps to rise along his arms, but more than that, Kakashi felt the shifting weight of Guy in his lap. He tried not to think about any of those things, then he wondered if he should be trying harder to be thinking only about those things.

Guy’s breath was hot on Kakashi’s neck. Guy was heavier than he used to be. And he was very careful in the way he moved. Kakashi wished there was more friction between them. He almost considered arching up against him, but jostling Guy while he was cutting Kakashi’s hair wasn’t his best idea.

Little by little, the world before Kakashi seemed to open up, in a literal sense if nothing else. Without his bangs obscuring his vision or the small slits he had to peer through in his mask, he could see more clearly.

“Yeah, this is looking better already…! I’m getting the hang of this!” Guy said to himself, his voice barely above a whisper. They were so close that it didn't need to be louder than that for Kakashi to hear him. Guy was so loud most of the time; sometimes Kakashi forgot that Guy could whisper at all. It was strangely exciting to hear his voice so low.

Guy shifted again to check the way the bangs framed Kakashi’s face. It was torturous, being this close to Guy. Kakashi wondered if Guy could hear his heart thudding in his chest, but nothing on Guy’s face gave away anything except his determined focus on the job at hand.

Kakashi took a second to just look at him, peeking open his sharingan slightly. His eyes roved over his face, to memorize the lines of his face, the warm glint to his eyes.

Guy shifted self-consciously in Kakashi’s lap. “What?” he whined. “Is there something on my face? You’re staring really hard,” Guy said when he couldn't bear the almost-tangible weight of Kakashi’s gaze. “I know! Are you hypnotized by my beautiful face?”

He closed his red eye. “Hair. On your lip,” was Kakashi’s prepared excuse.

“Huh?” Guy pulled away and wiped the back of his hand over his mouth, somehow managing to miss the dusting of silver hair there. “Where is it?”

“Still there…” He hummed, eyeing Guy mischievously. “Lean closer.”

Guy arched an eyebrow, but did as he was told without question. It made Kakashi remember that Guy was a shinobi, too. Guy opened his mouth to say something, but Kakashi leaned forward, almost closing the distance between them entirely. Guy, for once, was silent, and apparently holding his breath, since even this close, Kakashi couldn’t feel Guy breathing against Kakashi’s mask.

Kakashi stopped just short of their lips touching.

Instead, Kakashi blew a stream of air across his lips, sending the bits of hair off of Guy’s face. Kakashi leaned back and straightened up as the silver strands fell to the floor.

The way Guy drew back showed how the action had sent shivers down his spine. A bright red blush spread across his face, Guy made a startled, squeaky sound, and Kakashi felt something lengthen against his inner thigh.

“There. It’s gone now,” Kakashi said amusedly. The corner of his mouth twitched, and he fought back a smile when he saw how visibly flustered Guy was. His face was a brighter red than the scarf around his neck. For a second, he clearly seemed to be trying to regroup and reorganize his thoughts, trying to figure out if he had read to far into that at first or if Kakashi was trying to get this specific reaction out of him.

“—You just did that to mess with me! I’m trying to cut your hair, Kakashi! That’s dangerous!” Guy finally settled on the latter.

Kakashi mimed a shrug. “A taijutsu master has better control of his hands than to let something like that make him stab an ally, right?” Guy wasn’t like Kakashi. Duy notwithstanding, he was fully capable of protecting the people he wanted to protect. Kakashi doubted Guy had ever found himself with his hand through an ally’s chest, and he doubted he ever would, even accidentally or even if he was provoked. If Kakashi trusted him enough to cut his hair at all, Kakashi decided that he trusted him enough to mess with him while he did it.

Guy frowned, an expression that was strangely close to a pout, as he once again settled more comfortably into his rival’s lap. “I might put down the scissors and remind you _why_ I’m a taijutsu expert,” Guy threatened toothlessly. “Then we’ll both know how good I am with my hands.”

“That sounds like something straight out of one of Jiraiya’s novels,” Kakashi teased further.

It worked. Guy’s face turned even redder and he grimaced shyly. “I wasn’t—that’s not—stop trying to distract me!” For all of his protests, his hands had kept cutting precisely and accurately the entire time. If his hands were free, he would probably be using them either to cover his face or to flail his fists around in a mock threat.

Instead, he just tried to return his focus to the task in front of him, adjusting his movements to match the slight rises and falls when Kakashi shook from laughter or rolled his eye. It was almost fun, lapsing back into this sort of silence with Guy. It was almost nice.

“…I sort of envy you. No one says I’m like Papa anymore…” Guy admitted unexpectedly. “They tell me I’m nothing like Papa, and they say it like a compliment.”

Suddenly the silence felt too quiet, too still. Kakashi might be the only one who knew this about Guy, but that honest sort of openness was rare from him.

 “…You don’t look like Duy at all,” Kakashi said, no longer teasing. It was more of an insult than a compliment, and something in the words and the tone made Guy smile. “Even with that scarf on.”

“You don’t look much like Sakumo-san either,” Guy countered in the same tone. “You could grow this out to be a ponytail and let it all turn white as snow, but you would still only ever be you, Kakashi.”

Kakashi smiled back.

Of course, Guy was right. After all, Sakumo’s former comrades were still alive, safe and sound, even if it had cost his life in a roundabout way, even if they hated Sakumo for protecting them. Kakashi’s former friends might never hate him for failing them, but even so, they were all dead and gone.

Kakashi wasn’t his father. Kakashi couldn’t understand his father. Kakashi was still alive, still seen as a useful shinobi who would do whatever he had to for the village, even though everyone he should have kept safe was dead now. Kakashi wished everyone would resent him. He deserved it more than his father ever did.

Kakashi still resented his father and he still loved his father, but being likened to him hurt now more than ever –he was both much better and much, much worse than that man ever had been. He wanted to be nothing like him and he wanted to be strong enough to make that same decision that Obito had praised.

Guy nudged Kakashi’s head forward gently with his palm. Kakashi obliged him, bowing his head to give Guy better access to the hairline near his nape. The angle was odd, and Kakashi wondered if Guy was doing it this way specifically to keep him weighed down and still.

However, Guy didn’t say anything. He silently continued his task.

It was strange for Guy to see Kakashi from this perspective.

Even as a child, Kakashi had always seemed larger than life to Guy, impossibly brilliant and far away and independent.

But here, right now, in the small bedroom of Guy’s spartan apartment, he seemed achingly vulnerable. Painfully human. There were weights on Kakashi’s shoulders that he'd never let Guy see, walls around Kakashi that Guy had never imagined before existed between them. In this moment, at least, it felt like he could see a crack in those impenetrable walls, letting Guy see the shivering creature inside.

If Guy could, he’d want to free Kakashi of that. Failing that, he’d want to join Kakashi and shiver together, make him a little warmer, a little less alone with the weight of the world.

“Papa made his own mistakes. Sakumo-san did, too,” Guy finally said. He could at least offer Kakashi his best attempt at encouraging words. Even though Guy had never mastered the trade in the same way his father had, he was sure he could find his own words. “And the two of us have, too…”

Kakashi didn’t flinch, and his lidded dark eye continued observing Guy’s movement, the way his fingertips felt against his skin. He barely even blinked. Guy finally finished up clipping the back and leaned back, tapping Kakashi’s shoulder to let him know he could straighten back up.

“Not everything about it was bad. You did your best, didn’t you…? Even the parts of you that you want to throw away, past, present, future,” Guy brushed some hair off of Kakashi’s shoulders. “I like them too. I like everything about you, Kakashi.”

“…Why do you bother?” As soon as Kakashi asked, he wished he hadn’t. They both knew the answer.

The rhythm in their breathing seemed to synch as for a brief moment; it was as if both of them were perfectly still. Neither of them allowed anything betray their feelings, instead allowing the silence to stretch. No metallic sheers, no words, no shifting. Just two equally practiced poker-faces.

“—Why do I bother with what?” Guy asked, keeping his tone even as he finally broke the silence in the most merciful way he could.

Guy had granted him a out. Kakashi gratefully accepted –anything was better than an honest talk about their emotions and where they stood with each other. He tried to remember what they had been talking about before, although thinking was still difficult with Guy straddling his lap like this. Guy’s hands were steady as he worked and Kakashi closed his eye, letting his familiar scent lull him into content drowsiness. Guy’s presence was grounding, if nothing else.

“Hey, no falling asleep while I’m still cutting! That’s dangerous, too!”

Kakashi’s frown deepened, but he finally picked a good way to avoid the subject of their mutual crushes. “…Trying to look like Duy. Why do you still bother wearing those?”

It was an easier question, for Kakashi, at least. It was clear in the way that Guy’s muscles tensed and his smile almost dropped into a frown that it wasn’t a question Guy was prepared to answer. The scarf was something he used to match with his father. It was an item of comfort.

His hands clutched the scissors to his chest. “Maybe you’re right. I’m getting too old for this.” Guy used his free hand to pull at the bandana tied around his neck and used his other hand to cut it in half with the scissors. The pieces of the red scarf fell to the ground. “I haven’t been matching with him for a while now.” Guy returned his focus to cutting Kakashi’s hair to ignore the sudden half-beat stutter of his heart. “…When I’m done cutting your hair, could you help me get rid of them?”

Kakashi blinked. “How?”

“The same way dad went. If I’m throwing mine away, I want to burn into ashes.” Guy fidgeted. “It seems like the proper way to do it. Like maybe I’ll be returning them to dad that way.”

“They’re yours, aren’t they? Why do need to give them back to Duy?”

“I look back too much… I think,” Guy admitted. “I take our bond and his teachings for granted. But it’s my job to go forward myself, and make things happen with my own hands. With dad, and with other things too. A past together can’t guarantee my future. I have to guarantee that myself. If I give the scarves to dad, I definitely won’t be able to use them as a crutch anymore.”

“Because you think that’s what he would want you to do?” Kakashi asked.

Guy looked surprised at the question. He shook his head. “No, I really don’t know what he would want me to do right now. I can’t even guess. Now that I’m older, I’m not sure how well I understood my dad when I was a kid. But it’s what _I_ want me to do.”

“Figures.” Kakashi would have shrugged if Guy wasn’t cutting the lower parts of his hair now. “That didn’t sound as elegant as something Duy would have said. It sounded feeble.”

Guy laughed. “It did, didn’t it? But it’s a good place to start!”

Finally finished, Guy leaned back to scrutinize his work.

His gaze shifted down from Kakashi’s hair to his face. He put down the scissors, leaving them to sit precariously close to the edge of his dresser, and picked up a small mirror instead. “Okay, we’re all done! What do you think?”

Kakashi stared at his reflection. No longer weighed down by its length, his hair stuck out in a very lopsided way, and now it looked more noticeable than ever, all of it leaning to one side like it was strongly windswept. “…I’m not bald and it’s not a bowl cut. I’m impressed.”

It would do. Sakumo’s hair had never looked anything like this, so this would do.

“—Right?! Isn’t it amazing? Maybe I’m a genius, too!” Guy cheered, untying the blanket and sliding off of Kakashi’s lap.  

Kakashi chuckled again, wondering if Guy really thought this was what a normal haircut looked like. “Thanks, Guy.”

“Anytime!” He shot him a thumbs up. “Now then,” Guy picked up the pieces of the scarf he’d left on the ground. Then, he gathered up a handful of his other scarves. He practically had one for every color of the rainbow. “It’s your turn to help me out! Let’s go to the roof.”

In a single, swift movement, Guy had already jumped to the windowsill, looking back expectantly at Kakashi. Guy grinned and reached his hand out. “Are your hands still shaking?” It didn’t sound like pity. It sounded like a challenge.

Kakashi could feel the tension in his body vanish as he rolled his eyes at Guy. “Hah,” Kakashi disappeared in a body flicker, calling to Guy from outside, “Don’t look down on me.”

“Of course not! I’d never look down on my rival! I’ve only ever looked to you as an equal! That’s not look up or looking down!” Guy climbed onto the rooftop and grinned at Kakashi. He seemed like a whole new man now. Maybe it was the haircut, or maybe it was the smile. He still looked tired, but he didn’t look like he was as far away as he had before.

“Good. Then let’s get this over with.” Kakashi put his hands together. “I have another mission in the morning.”

“That means you’re free to stay with me until morning, then!” A declaration, not a question. Kakashi was grateful it was worded that way. He didn’t have to come up with a reason not to turn it down. Guy tossed the scarves into the air.

They went through the seals together, in perfect sync. As always, Kakashi had to slow down to match Guy’s pace, but Guy was faster than he used to be. Faster than most jonin were. Kakashi had no idea when he found time to practice hand signs when he spent so much time on taijutsu training.

Snake.

Ram.

Monkey.

Boar.

Horse.

Tiger.

“Fire Style: Fireball Jutsu!”

The cloth caught in the stream of flames and incinerated in seconds. The boys watched like it was fireworks.

“…Do you think he got them?” Guy asked when the ashes and embers had finally vanished.

All of a sudden, he seemed as naïve and hopeful as he did when he was a little kid.

Kakashi matched Guy’s childlike wonder with his own childlike smugness. “Probably not,” Kakashi shrugged.

Guy just smiled at him. “Is that so! Well, I’m happy I tried anyway! Because maybe he did! I’ll be sure to ask him, one day, down the line!

“When you do, tell me what he says.”

“Of course!” Guy paused. “…When do you think we’ll be men who’re worthy of their fathers’ smiles?”

“If we aren’t by now, then we’ll just never be,” Kakashi answered cryptically.

Uncryptically, Guy voiced his interpretation. “In other words, we always were and always will be!” he declared. It sounded optimistic.

Maybe he didn’t really believe that, but he’d learned how to make fake confidence indistinguishable from fake confidence. Not quite in the same way Duy did. Duy would have offered a better platitude and waited for Kakashi to express confidence or indicate that the subject no longer interested him. Duy would have done a lot of things differently.

But that past was behind them now. There was no way they could go back; there was only what lay in front of them, the emptiness of space, waiting for them to blaze a path through it.

“Yosh! From here on, I’m going to march forward as Might Guy, head of the Might name!”

And Kakashi supposed that he would be Kakashi Hatake, head of the Hatake clan.

They didn’t say it out loud, but judging by the mutual, unspoken attraction between the two of them, they were probably both going to be the last of their bloodlines, too. All that was ever going to remain of the Might family and the Hatake clan was standing on a rooftop, watching ashes disappear into the night.

As if he sensed Kakashi’s thoughts, Guy turned towards his rival. “Kakashi, thank you for this. Now, we’re even. You, too, never be afraid to come and talk to me or tell me anything. You’re stuck with me, Rival. We’re friends, right?” He offered Kakashi his hand. “There’s still some time. Do you want to get some sleep? We have all night before you have to go back to ignoring me.”

Kakashi chuckled at the way Guy had worded that. He really was stuck with him. And Kakashi didn’t mind it at all, except for the fact that it was more than Kakashi deserved. “We are friends,” Kakashi said, nodding, accepting his hand this time.

They returned inside and crawled into Guy’s bed together, savoring the last bit of the night they would have before they had to rise to meet the dawn.


End file.
